The world's biggest Koran, decorated with precious stones and gold, was brought from Italy to Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, on Tuesday.

      The unique new edition of the Muslim sacred text was ordered to the "Reverra LTD" company especially for the he Foundation on Restoring Cultural and Historical Heritage, which head is the rupublic's former leader Mintimer Shaimiev.

      The holy book weighs a mammoth 800 kilograms and boasts 632 pages sized two by one and a half meters, so it definitely requires very strong arms to read it. The gold- and silver-encrusted cover studded with malachite and semi-precious stones holds a giant turquoise 14 centimeters in diameter. It took the Italian company over a year to make it, and the price is still unknown.

      "This new edition of the Koran is a big present for all Russian Muslims", Tatarstan head mufti, Ildus Faizov, said.

      Now the holy book is kept in Kazan mosque Kul Sharif within the Kremlin of the city of Kazan. In summer 2012, the book will be moved to Bolgary – a Tatarstan region which embraced Islam as its official religion in 922.

      The unique edition has been already included into the Guiness Book of Records, and Russia's Ministry of Culture has considered the book as a the country's cultural value.

Sources: Mail.ru Lenta.ru Rosbalt Image: aze.az